Flashpoint
by Enula
Summary: "Maybe one day we'll meet again and start over. I think you're the right person...but our timing's been all wrong." "What about now?" "Now's our flashpoint." Greg has to leave for Atlanta. Rebecca has to let him go. Oneshot (?)


A/N: I just HAD to write something after how the last episode ended. I have a feeling that this is not how it's going to happen. Not really sure if they're both as this point yet, but I do know I want Greg and Rebecca together, but not in their current stages.

* * *

 **Flashpoint**

She was crazy. What she was doing was crazy. It _had_ to be. The universe sent her a sign: Greg didn't show. Worse than that, he was at the airport. So not only was he not choosing her, he was running away from her. _But how could he do that?_ He can't...not after he told her he loved her (or at least that's what he wanted to say the night of the wedding). Not after he kissed her on the bridge!

Maybe she should just let him go. God knew she deserved his _yes/maybe/no_ attitude. She'd only been doing that to him since they met.

The doors to the airport swung open easier than she expected and the force nearly knocked her out. She was out of breath but her adrenaline was drowning out her reasoning. Even if she was going to let him go, she at least needed to tell him that she was going to tell him that she loved him the night of the wedding too. She couldn't wait another ten years to accidentally run into him like she did with Josh.

"Wait! Greg! Stop! No!" There was so many other single syllable words she could have shouted to scare all the people around her, but Greg was already turning around. His surprised eyes met hers. She could read everything in him - his uncertainty, confusion, excitement, interest, disgust. And she got it. Greg felt all of it; it was one of the reasons he always drank so much before.

"Rebecca? What are you doing here?"

She worried her bottom lip as her large eyes stared at him with desperation, "Greg, what happened? I thought...I thought…" she couldn't get out the right words. But the way his eyes slowly closed and his breathing slowed, she knew he knew what she meant.

"I need to go," was all he offered her, his gaze wavering from hers, " _Everything_ is pointing to this. My dad sold the house...I have the money to _finally_ leave this hellhole of a city and go to Emory."

She swallowed hard, already feeling her throat tighten, "W-wait, so...you're not leaving because of _me?"_

"Oh...no, yeah, I'm definitely leaving because of you, too." Greg was blunt, his lips pursing as he nodded to confirm what he just said in case she thought he was joking.

Rebecca shook her head, her short hair bouncing and framing her face in a way that Greg always appreciated. His fingers twitched with the desire to tenderly tug at her curls. Her mouth opened and closed as her mind whirled to find the proper words, but only small sounds made their way out.

He squinted his eyes, flashing a large ironic smile, "Is _thee_ Rebecca Bunch left speechless?"

She then curled her fists at her sides and stomped her foot. Her lips did that pouty thing that made his eyes drop and focus on her mouth. He didn't know why she looked so pretty when she was in her tantrum mode…

"Greg! You were just going to leave without saying _anything_ to me? No explanation? Not even a simple _text?"_ Her voice was rising, but it was obvious she was more hurt than angry.

He sighed heavily, "I figured you'd find out from the guys soon...and then you'd call me later and we'd talk when I got to Atlanta-"

"I'll come with you!"

" _What?"_

"Yeah, yeah, I'll buy a ticket right now!" Her eyes were wide with excitement and it was his time to be speechless, "I have enough money to get there and support myself until I find a job in Atlanta! I'll worry about my job and apartment and car and...and... _all that other stuff_ later so-"

"'Becca, _stop. No!_ You can't just follow me to Atlanta!"

She stepped closer to him and it took everything in him to not pull her in and turn and run.

"I _just_ told you I'm leaving because of you. Why-"

"We can work it all out when we get there."

He stared at her incredulously before chuckling and pinching the bridge of his nose. She was so impossible. He met her eyes, his voice loud and slow so she understood, "There's nothing to work out. I don't _want_ to work it out with you."

Her head shot back like he slapped her. Tears burdened her eyes and her face instantly became puffy. It made him regret his words. The truth was, he wanted nothing more than to work it out with her, but...his dad was right. She was toxic. He was too in love with her to focus on what he needed to get better. Greg recalled seeing some stupid quote on some over-rated social site…

Something about... _they say you can't love someone without first loving yourself._

Bullshit. He never loved himself and loving her only destroyed him more.

Though...there was a brief moment that he thought she was making him genuinely happy.

But then everyone reminded him that that wasn't possible. That he shouldn't be in love with someone like Rebecca Bunch. That he _couldn't_ be. So he did what he had to do. He pushed her away. He opened her eyes. No matter what, when it came down to her choosing him or Josh, it was never going to be him. And just waiting for the moment for Josh to intervene was not how Greg wanted to live.

 _Don't cry…_

He wanted to tell her as a lone tear slid down her cheek and he wished he could just grab his bag and turn away. There was nothing else that had to be said. Well...nothing else that could make the situation any better or worse. But instead, he heard himself say

"Maybe one day we'll meet again and start over."

Rebecca sniffed loudly, almost unattractively, _almost;_ he wasn't sure why she still looked cute crying. Her voice cracked when she finally spoke, "You can't just say you don't want to work it out with me and then say... _that!"_

"I'm trying to be _honest_ with you. And if that means being contradictory then...then that _perfectly_ describes my thoughts and feelings for you." She looked like she needed a lot more explanation and he once again hated himself for spilling the words

"I _think_ you're the right person...but our timing's been all wrong."

"What about _now?"_ She asked quickly, "I did the rom-com thing, I rushed to the airport to-"

"Now's our flashpoint."

The reference didn't go unnoticed by her. She was brought back to their first date and their random (yet delightful) shared interest for the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. He blew her mind then. Now he was breaking her.

"Thank you for trying...Rebecca," he said calmly, unexpectedly, "I know you-you always get these grand gestures in your head, and you always believe they're going to work like they do in the movies. But _our lives_ aren't movies. And I can't stay. And you can't come with me."

She looked down at the floor between them-the few feet of distance that was about to grow exponentially. She inhaled a large breath that gave her the courage to say, "I was going to tell you I loved you that night, too." Rebecca found the strength to look into his sad dark eyes that she was sure would haunt her forever. She forced a smile, "The night could have ended perfectly…"

Greg tried to match her smile, but even the tug of his lips was being forced down, "The night, maybe. But not...not us. You still chose Josh that night. No help from me, I get it…"

Wiping at her cheeks with her palms, she chuckled, "Were you always this wise?"

He thought about it only for a second, "Yes-I just never listened to myself."

They both laughed shortly this time, but the moment was cut short when Greg's flight was being announced. He would be boarding soon and he still had to get through security.

"I have to g-"

She quickly clenched onto his jacket and pulled him into a kiss. Their lips moved with ease and recognition and desperation and melancholy, and it left them both breathless.

"I'm a mess, but I'm going to work on myself," he told her, foreheads touching.

"Me, too."

He nodded at their unspoken words. They weren't just doing it for themselves, they were doing it for each other. But that was a road they would have to discover later. They both loved explosions and both were as volatile as they came. But they needed to get past that instability before they burned each other alive.

He was gone before she could comprehend his absence. She wanted to tell him good luck at school. And that she was proud of him. And that he didn't seem surprised when she confessed her love to him. And that she wished he would've turned around before he disappeared into the crowd. But that she was glad he didn't because she knew how big of a step this was for him and he deserved to look forward.

That didn't mean she wasn't going to cry tonight though. Probably drunk text him. Because she realized she needed to work on herself, but she recognized she had to feel this pain she was feeling now. She couldn't pretend she was fine and hope to better herself. She wouldn't drown herself in pills. She wouldn't lie about feeling happy if she wasn't. She wanted to be genuinely happy for Greg, even if his road to happiness didn't involve her.

Damn. She didn't even leave the airport and she was already crying.

She hated herself for being aware that she had to let him go.

For now.


End file.
